Our Travel Blog

We set the alarm to get up at sunrise!! We had arrived in south western Chile where there are a number of inlets and fjords along the coast. Going out onto the balcony it was obvious it was cold (5C/41F), raining and dark. We didn’t sign up for this!

The object of this rash behaviour was to view the Amalia Glacier in the Bernardo O’Higgins National Park (got to love these S. American names!)

The glacier is 3kms (1.8miles) wide where it enters the water, about 220ft thick and 32km (20miles) long. It changed from dark to light fairly quickly so we got to see more of the surrounding area. As we got closer to the glacier there were many small “icebergs” in the water, probably the largest was around 4ft x 8ft and only a foot or so above the water. We were lucky, as we were in Alaska, to see a small amount of the glacier breaking away and falling into the water. The colours in the glacier varied from blue through white to a dirty brown.

As usual, I’ll just put a few pictures up to give you an idea of what we saw.

We spent the rest of the morning cruising back out of the fjords to the ocean.

Shortly we will exit the calm waters and back out into a rough Pacific Ocean for a few hours on our way to Puntas Arenas.

Somehow, today has become delayed, maybe because we went back to bed after the glacier! 1000 breakfast, 1400 lunch! After lunch we felt “obliged” to take a turn around the deck (as they say in the old movies). It was windy, cool and the ship was back to pitching and rolling. I took a couple of pictures on our way.

There was also a fruit/vegetable carving demonstration on board by a couple of the ships chefs.

The ship has been moving around a fair bit these last couple of days, making walking an interesting exercise, not is it just rolling and pitching, every so often there is a large”thump” as though a couple of ginormous sledge hammers had hit the ship. All this is to provide a further excuse for typo’s. The keyboard kept moving!

This another restful sea day, unfortunately it is quite windy and cool outside (15C/59F) , so not really Gin and Tonic on the balcony weather!

As of now, I think I have the blog sorted out and up to date with both words and pictures!

Thanks to Lyn for helping to identify some of my more glaring errors!!

Our first tour on the cruise! Unfortunately this involved a 0615 wake up call! We were debating whether we needed to get up earlier, but then had the smart suggestion of room service! This would save us having to head down to the restaurant, find a table and wait for breakfast!

We were ferried from the boat to shore in the ships lifeboats, remind me never to be on a ship that needs to use lifeboats for real!

On shore we got on our coach and got underway towards Vicente Perez Rosales National Park, Chile’s oldest national park. Specifically we were going to Todos los Santos, known as Esmeralda Lake for its brilliant emerald colour. On our way we were lucky enought to see snow-capped Osorno volcano. Evidentally the top is often shrouded in cloud, but not today. The volcamoe is 8700ft high and is classed as dormant as it hasn’t errupted since the mid 1800’s.

Once in the National park we boarded a catarmaran for a short trip on the Emerald lake. Unfortunately the “brilliant emerald colour” described in the glossy brochures appears to be the figment of some PR guys over active imagination!

The area has a large numbe of German immigrants from the late 1800’s and there are still German schools in the area today. The architecture in places is also very German.

After our cruise within a cruise we boarded the buses again for Petrohue Falls. These falls were famous, not for their height or volume of water, but for the stunning turquoise colour of the water. Hopefully it wasn’t the same PR guy writing this brochure.

After this stop we headed to Puerto Varas for lunch, where we had a typical Chilean meal, with a beautiful piece of fresh salmon as the main course. After lunch we had about 45 minutes free time to wander around the town and market. Lyn managed to find some items in the market that were screaming at her to take them to Canada!

Into the town square next where a family of musicians were playing.

That was pretty much the end of the tour. We had been very lucky with the weather as the forecast was for heavy showeres all day. It wasn’t until we got to the port that the rain started.

Today was a day at sea, we could get up when we wanted and do what we wanted when we wanted!

It was a day of discovery, we had to find our way around the ship, how things worked etc.

I mentioned earlier that we had a “Medallion” , this is a small device slightly larger than a quarter that originally hung from lanyayard around our necks. This got annoying so we sprang for a couple of watch like wristbands.

This is quite an an amazing little device. All the bar orders can be made through this. At the bar we order our drinks and the barman checks his terminal and confirms I am Mr. Barry and pours the drink! This purchase is now entered into the ships accounting records. Luckily we have a “free” drinks package, which allows us 15 drinks a day up to a value of $15 per drink

It also serves as ID and automatic check-in check-out when going on shore excursions.

One of it’s functions had me worried until it was explained. Every time we got to the cabin we found that the door was unlocked, which was disconcerting! Not an issue, the door lock can sense the medallion approaching from about 10 feet away and unlocks the door automatically!

The medallion also works in conjunction with a phone app to allow us to make dinner reservations, check out the entertainment and activities etc. We can also order a drink with the app and then it will be delivered to where we are sitting! If Lyn “loses” me she can find my location on the ship, and if need be get directions to my location. We can also “message” each other. We have a “free” WiFi package each that allows us 1 device each on the internet, which are our tablets. The phones work on the ships intra net which is internal only.

Speaking of internet, the connection on board is fine, not as fast as home, but way better than many hotels we have stayed at on land, and good enough to upload pictures to the blog.

Time to rest!!!

After the joys of the Santiago (dis)organisation, we weren’t particularly looking forward to the embarkation process. We were not disappointed… initially. We grabbed our bags from the coach and walked to a makeshift tent on the pier together with hundreds of other passengers. The mass was slowly funnelled into 4 lines. We had just reconciled our selves to a long wait when an elderly employee looked at our cases and said “labelled already, come” Princess had pre-issued baggage tags for us to put on the cases, I’m sure many other passengers had done this, but ours caught his eye! He led us past the crowds to the front of the line where our cases were put aboard. Perfect!

Next we went into a large warehouse style building where check in and security were performed. There were two lines for check in, one very long and one very short. Which one was ours…. the short one. Princess has a small electronic device called a medallion, which can be sent to you ahead of time IF you live in the USA. As we were in Alabama, we were able to order ours. With this little wonder we got the short line, got served immediately and checked in within about 30 seconds. Impressive!

Security was a little slower but not too bad, then it was onto the ship. Of course the cabin weren’t ready. We were told there would be an announcement when they were ready. We wandered around a little and had a coffee and cake. After a couple of hours we were still waiting, so as a poor innocent waiter asked us if we needed anything I replied with one of my very rare sarcastic comments that “A cabin would be nice!” He gave me a look, and disappeared! He reappeared a few minutes later and told us that he had made a phone call, and that the cabin was ready! Impressive! We are still waiting for the general announcement 3 days later!

We were scheduled to depart at 1730, but apparently the bunkering barge (floating gas station) had still not arrived, so our departure would be delayed five hours, but we were assured that we would still arrive at our next port on time.

We were impressed with the cabin size and amenities as well as the balcony size which would easily fit 2 chairs, foot rests and a table with plenty of room to spare.

There was plenty of wardrobe space and storage around the cabin. In fact there was only one small disappointment and the was the size of the shower, and the fact that it had a plastic curtain instead of a door!!!

We then unpacked (well Lyn did, for some reason she declined my offers of help). Having nothing to do I sat out on the balcony and enjoyed the exotic view.

Overall we enjoyed the contents of the land tour. I think most of the group of 70 were in agreement that there was too much crammed into it. On average I’d say we were out of the hotel by 7AM and away for 12 hours. The days activities could be labelled as strenuous, especially if you include the heat, humidity and altitude.

Was it worth it, Absolutely! Our tour guides were excellent and the two tour directors we had with us throughout were very good, even though on the last day you could see their frustration and embarrassment showing through with the total lack of organisation at the Marriott Hotel.

The next morning, hotel staff were once again conspicuous by there absence when it came to moving bags out to the coach! The good news was, that after good nights sleep at sea level we all began to recover from the tiredness of the previous few days.

Once on the coach we took a scenic tour of Santiago, which was a much more modern (and cleaner) city than Lima.

We only made one stop on the trip and that was at the main square in Santiago, with the Presidential Palace on one side and the other 3 sides housing various ministries.

The current President is young (38) and left leaning, so rather than live in the Palace, he has chosen to live about 15 minutes away in small rented accommodation!

From here we headed off to the port to board the ship.

Earlier in the blog I sang the praises of the seamless way in which a lot of the transportation was organised, it seems we were spoilt at the beginning of the trip.

This morning our bags were collected from our rooms and taken to the lobby, there we identified them and the hotel staff took them to the coach. This time there were no advanced luggage tags or boarding passes.

At Cusco airport we were given boarding passes, with very few couples being seated together. We then went to the normal checking line to check the bags, the slippery downward slope had begun (even if it was only a first world problem!) The flight back to Lima was fine, and we only had a 30 minute layover before our flight to Santiago. Again the flight was fine, taking just over 3 hours.

In Santiago we had to lineup for immigration, there were only 2 officers on duty to handle all the arrival and one of those officers was only handling 1 person in the time it took the other to process 4. Next we had to line up to have our checked bags inspected. It seems as though Chile is even more strict about the importing of food, animal products, dairy products etc. than Australia. The only consolation was, that by the time we got to the baggage hall, our bags were looking for us, not the other way around!

Once through customs, we then had a “short” walk to the coach. This short walk involved taking all our bags on a 20 minute marathon journey in 30C (87F) temperatures and high humidity at an Olympic medal winning pace. Needless to sayafter the previous weeks exertions there were many unhappy and very exhausted tourists.

At the hotel, even though they had been forewarned of our arrival, there were no staff to take care of the luggage, so we dragged it into the hotel ourselves! Once in the lobby we had 70 tourists and one check in agent! Well done Marriott!

I know the issues we had are minor in the big scheme of things, but having seen how well things had been organised, it was disappointing to see how the standards had slipped.

At least they offered free booze with dinner.

We had the option of getting up at 5AM to re-visit Machu Picchu, but after yesterdays exertions and body malfunctions we decided to opt for a lie in instead! Today was a travel day, taking the train back to Ollantaytambo then a coach to Cusco with a brief stop at a market in Pisac, then on to the hotel..

A well needed rest day!

I’m still not feeling the best, the asthma is not liking the high altitudes plus I am trying to fight off a cold and something really unusual for me, I have no appetite!

We both conquered Machu Picchu today, it was tough going but we made it, and it was worth it!

Once we get some sea days on the boat, I’ll try to get this updated with some pictures.

The Main Event.

Ok, lets rename this entry. The main reason for this land tour was to see Machu Picchu, so here we go. The night before we had to leave our suitcases outside the room for pickup and onward tranportation back to Cusco. For our one night stop in Machu Picchu we were restricted to a single carry on bag each. You can’t imagine the problems this simple requirement caused amongst this group of seniors. Do we leave the carry on outside our room, how big can the carry on be, how much can it weigh, can I take two pieces of luggage as I need more clothes etc. etc. etc. may questions repeated a number of times in the hope of getting the answer they wanted. It really was quite pathetic!

The reason for separating us from our baggage was simple, we were taking a train to Machu Picchu and there simply wasn’t the space for all the bags.

We got rudely awaken by a 5AM (yes before sunrise!!) wake-up call. After breakfast we headed off to the Ollantaytambo train station to board the train. The number of visitors to Machu Picchu is now very controlled to prevent damage to the site. We required passports and rain tickets that bore the same ID number to get into the station, on to the train and into the site, any discrepancy……. no go!

It was about a 90 minute ride to the site following a valley . Agan, mostly pictures to tell the story!

Below are some views along the way as we follow the Urubamba River

From the station we had a further 25 minute bus ride up some interesting, narrow and unpaved switchbacks!

Our first views of Machu Picchu weren’t overly inspiring, is this what we travelled all this way to see!

OK, before we see the main event, the show got stopped by yet another alpaca, this time a 4 day ols baby nursing. While this was happening a guide was talking to us, then there was a THUMP! The baby had strayed to far while nursing and fell off the 8ft terrace!

Mother was in a panic bleating for the baby and trying to get down, but it was too far to jump. Baby got up ok, saw and heard mum and started crying because they couldn’t get re-united. A park warden and a guide then managed to direct both animals in the same direction toward the end of the terrace where the mother could climb down. They all lived happily ever after!!

Finally we got to see the place we had all been waiting for; Machu Pichhu. What an amazing sight.